In all but one case, the cancers were located far from the parietal cortex and other areas that Mottolese stimulated.

The team's work points to two brain areas involved in the decision to move a limb and then execute the action.

Sirigu believes that the parietal cortex makes predictions about future movements and sends instructions to another brain area, the premotor cortex, which returns the outcome of the movement to the parietal cortex.